Of course we all reflect on our youth and the freedom from cares we enjoyed then. Taking on life's responsibilities, however exciting it might be at first, eventually can weigh us down. When it does, we begin to look forward to the day we can slow down or retire. When that time arrives our bodies begin to malfunction, our parents, if we are lucky enough to have them with us, need us and even our adult children might need our help. I think in the passage below Moses expresses very well how we might feel.
from Numbers chapter 11
The children of Israel lamented,
“Would that we had meat for food!
We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt,
and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks,
the onions, and the garlic.
But now we are famished;
we see nothing before us but this manna.”
When Moses heard the people, family after family,
crying at the entrance of their tents,
so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved.
“Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the Lord.
“Why are you so displeased with me
that you burden me with all this people?
Was it I who conceived all this people?
Or was it I who gave them birth,
that you tell me to carry them at my bosom,
like a foster father carrying an infant,
to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers?
Where can I get meat to give to all this people?
For they are crying to me,
‘Give us meat for our food.’
I cannot carry all this people by myself,
for they are too heavy for me.
If this is the way you will deal with me,
then please do me the favor of killing me at once,
so that I need no longer face this distress.”
Poor Moses! When he arrived (or will arrive?) in heaven, he'll be glad to realize what a future generation of Israelites heard first hand from Jesus, that the yoke is easy and the burden light.
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